Running a football club is a lot of work. One of the problems for many of the clubs in the WaiBOP Football community, no matter where they are and what size they are, is getting more volunteers to put up their hands and spread the workload.  

Last week we caught up with Ben Norman, President of Te Aroha Junior Football Club.

The Waikato town of Te Aroha is about halfway between Hamilton and Thames, and the club has around 140 registered players, with a committee of five people. 

Ben shared the story of how one of their volunteers got involved in the club, and some tips they have found useful in their club for sharing the volunteer workload.  

First Kicks Timekeeper, Steve Hill, is originally from Auckland, and moved to Te Aroha as a retiree. He had been involved in football with his own children in Auckland when they were growing up.  

Ben met Steve by chance before the 2023 season, when both men were at the football grounds. Steve shared how he loved to see all the kids playing football on a Saturday morning as he passed on a walk or bike ride. He missed his football days, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to turn up and watch without a family member involved.  

This sparked an idea. Ben talked to his committee about creating a specific timekeeper role in the club. Someone who could be on the hooter for the first kicks games and keep the morning moving. This was a role that had been shared by the committee – all of whom were doing other roles as well.  

Ben went back to Steve with the idea: "Do you want to be part of our club? We have this job we would love you to do, if you would like to be involved."

With a specific job to do, Steve was keen and came down to be timekeeper for a season.  

After the winter season, Steve returned at the start of 2024 to run timing for 6 weeks of a fun 5-aside round robin on Friday nights, and was invited along to committee meetings. He’s added his input and insight, which Ben says has been valuable to have.

This season, Steve’s back again as First Kicks timekeeper, and also gets involved with the cluster festivals.

Steve says, "I was taught as a young 'un that it was important to be involved in sport and teamwork. This involvement gives people a sense of belonging and value. To see parents and kids turning up to play on Saturdays is priceless. Thankyou for the chance to be involved."

A key takeaway for Ben and the committee of five is to have clear and specific roles that volunteers can be invited to do (rather than “come along and lend a hand”). They recognised that one of the barriers to getting involved as a volunteer was not knowing what needs to be done.  

Another issue they identified for volunteers was uncertainty over time commitments. People don’t want to volunteer if they are not certain they’ll be able to do the job when needed. Te Aroha is a dairy farming area, with time restraints different to other jobs.

The committee wanted to make it easier for volunteers to be involved as and when they could be. Ben shared how the committee have been very intentional about identifying what needs to be done, and breaking up the roles into “bite sized chunks” with very clear instructions, so they can be done by different people.

One example Ben has is field marking. Previously done by the committee, it’s time-consuming, and the timing varies depending on the weather and how fast the grass grows and is mown.  

The club has been able to train up six volunteers – mainly Dads – to use the line marking equipment. The gear, and a map with instructions is kept in a shed with a lockbox, and the volunteers all have the code.  
Ben has a group chat specifically for pitch marking. He keeps an eye on the pitches, and the weather, and lets the group know when they need doing, and the window of two or three days they can be done. So far, one of the six has always been able to get the job done.  

Ben believes there are a few key points:

• Breaking down tasks into clear chunks, with instructions and timeframes. 
• Making it easy for some jobs to be done without dependencies on others (eg a lockbox with a shared code). 
• The committee continues to organise tasks, and if needed, step in to do them themselves.

The committee view managing volunteer workload as being a key to not burning out any individuals, and creating a sustainable club for the future.

Article added: Wednesday 03 July 2024